International Council for Educational Media Conference Notice 1988

Abstract

The article looks at the production and use of divergent and convergent media and the associated delivery systems. It considers the pros and cons of the systems for various types of learner and concludes that although multimedia is the direction, the choice of multimedia must rest with the analyst.     

The Working Groups of the International Council for Educational Media

For the past ten years or so the working groups have assumed increasing importance in the life of the ICEM. Duly laid down under the terms of the articles, in the proceedings of the Council, at the General Assembly, the Executive Committee and the Officers, they play an original role and are leaving their mark more and more on the entire range of activities. The first in date was the Equipment Working Group set up in 1968 to determine ICEM policy in this field and to supervise the smooth running of cooperation among several countries in the design of hardware and the preparation of corresponding specifications.     

The University Council for Educational Administration

International Review of Education -     

The Scottish Council for Educational Technology

The Role of the Media

In Educational Media International 1979, No 3, we mentioned in News and Views that the Scottish Council for Educational Technology was moving to larger premises in the former Notre Dame College of Education in Glasgow. They are still very occupied with settling in this very splendid old building which, as can be seen from the photograph opposite, is very attractive.     

The International Council for Distance Education

This paper gives a brief overview of the history and activities of the International Council for Distance Education.     

Educational and Cultural Activities of the Council of Europe (1949-1969)

The cooperation of European educators has in recent years assumed a new dimension: it extends beyond the contacts between individual scholars or professional groups, and beyond the government-sponsored work of the Council of Europe. It is indeed a vast project of collaboration in which numerous scholars in education and the social sciences are exploring the long-range prospects of European society.     

International Early Childhood Resources from Educational Research Abstracts (ERA)

The aim was to examine cross-cultural variation in linguistic responsiveness to young children in 10 English-speaking mother–child dyads and 10 Italian-speaking mother– child dyads. All 20 children were late talkers who possessed delays in expressive vocabulary development but age-appropriate cognitive and receptive language skills. Dyads were filmed in 15 minute free play contexts, which were transcribed and coded for measures of maternal linguistic input (e.g. rate, MLU, labels, expansions) and child language productivity (e.g. utterances, different words used). The results revealed that the Italian mothers used more utterances, spoke more quickly and used a more diverse vocabulary than the Canadian mothers. The Italian children mirrored their mothers and also used more utterances and a more diverse vocabulary than the Canadian children. Mothers in both groups used similar percentages of responsive labels and expansions. However, Italian mothers responded to fewer of their children's vocalisations, using a smaller percentage of imitations and interpretations than the Canadian mothers. Correlations between maternal input and children's language productivity revealed that contingent language measures (e.g. imitations, interpretations, expansions) were related to high levels of productivity in children in both cultural groups. The results support the use of language interventions based on increasing maternal responsiveness for these children at the one-word stage of language development. They also point to differences that may be culturally based. For example, Italian mothers use faster rates of interaction and appear to have higher expectations for their children's verbal participation in interaction. This is reflected in higher rates of language production from their children, even though children in both cultural groups have similar vocabulary sizes.